DeKALB | The NIU athletic department’s decision to mail tickets to on-campus residents has concerned students who commute.

Last week, the athletic department said they intended to make it easier for students who live in the dorms to attend football games by delivering free tickets to students’ mailboxes.

The effort to increase student attendance by making tickets more accessible could have a negative effect on students who do not live on campus, or even in DeKalb.

Jon Haws, a junior physical education major, said he and a friend experiencedsome difficulty trying to get a ticket for Saturday’s game. Haws bought his ticket earlier in the week, but when he and his friend went to the Holmes Student Center on Friday to purchase another ticket, they were told there were no more student tickets available at that location. Haws also was told the tickets were very limited at the Convocation Center box office.

However, Glen Krupica, senior associate athletic director said tickets were still being distributed Friday.

“We won’t turn any students away,” Krupica said.

The athletic department’s major concern is getting more tickets in the students’ hands, said Krupica. He said they are also looking at football attendance from a ticket-counting standpoint. They want to broaden the student ticket block.

There was also an issue with communication because Krupica specified that at the two main ticket distribution areas, the Holmes Student Center and the Convocation Center, tickets were still available to students, yet Haws was turned away.

If students who live on-campus happen to get their ticket early in the week and receive an additional ticket through the mail, it would be OK to give the extra ticket to another student. If a student has two tickets, does not give one away and does not attend the game, then two issues still remain: two tickets are wasted and two seats remain empty on game day.

“It’s just going to make it harder for students who live off campus to get tickets,” Haws said.

Ebony McCline is a Campus Reporter for the Northern Star.